Everson Griffen Out Indefinitely While Dealing With Personal Tragedy

When one dedicates a good portion of his week reading, researching, and writing about football it can be difficult to remember that there are more important things in life. I imagine that it is a gazillion times harder for players and coaches to remember that, which could lead to some shocking situations like Brad Childress docking a player’s pay for attending his grandmother’s funeral and Torrey Smith playing lights out football only hours after finding out his brother was dead.

Yesterday, Vikings defensive lineman Everson Griffen found out he will be living the rest of his life with his mother there to help him along. His mother reportedly died suddenly, cause unknown at this point, while visiting her son in Minnesota.

“As you can imagine, it was tough,” Leslie Frazier said on Thursday. “There was nothing that could have prepared him for that news. He wasn’t here [Thursday]. I’m not sure what his status will be going forward.

“Our prayers as an organization, as well as his teammates, are with him and his family. This is a difficult time for him, as you can imagine, and we’ll be there to support him as best we can. . . . He loved his mom, like we all do. And to have no clue that something like this was on the horizon it was tough. It’s still tough, obviously.”

“Everson means a lot to me, like all our guys do, and I’ve seen the maturation in his life,” Frazier continued. “I told him that [Wednesday] night. I know his mom would be so proud of how he has grown up and become a young man that has made her very proud. It’s hard to see him hurting. I lost my mother not long ago, I know what that experience is like, and it’s hard. It’s hard.”

Unlike the Childress situation mentioned earlier, Frazier is giving his player all the time necessary to properly grieve and says Griffen can return whenever he is ready to do so.

“It’s purely up to him when,” Frazier said. “There’s no timetable. I explained that to him,” Frazier said. “He needs to go through the grieving process properly and don’t be thinking about football. Just doing whatever he needs to do away from football. His mom was very, very close to him. This is going to be a tough deal for him.”

We here at Vikings Territory would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to Everson and his family during this trying time.

Adam Warwas (Founder) is a case study in how the human male can allow a hobby to turn into a life-consuming obsession. After serving for about three years as the Editor at Vikings Gab, he decided to branch off on his own and start Vikings Territory, hoping someone might accidentally visit the site from time to time. Now, he is thrilled to present you with one of the most comprehensive and analytical Vikings sites that you are going to find. More than anything, he hopes you enjoy reading VT as much as he enjoys putting it together.